Congratulations to Turning Stone Classic XXXIV winners Jayson Shaw for win # 7 ($8,000 main event), Tom Zippler ($500 second chance event) & our $1,900 Joss Cue raffle winner Tony Antone and $1,600 Joss Cue raffle winner Mac Jankov.
Stop #8 of my Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour’s 2021/2022 season will take place at the beautiful new Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, NY on Sat. & Sun. Feb. 5 & 6. This will be the second of three stops this season in this beautiful room opened recently by our good friend Andrea Duvall. Andrea has created a modern, bright and welcoming room featuring 10 Brunswick Gold Crowns that will be used for our event. There is also a 10-ft heated billiard table, a 12-ft snooker table, a 9-ft tight pocket table, a ping-pong table, 5, 7-ft tables, darts, foosball and video games making for a varied and fun recreational experience for the family and entire community. There is a wide range of menu selections and snacks as well as a pro shop with a large array of billiard supplies, cues and cases. So come on down this weekend to compete or just watch another great tournament. Be sure to take a chance on winning a beautiful, $1,900 custom engraved Joss cue in the cue raffle. Anyone can participate and you do not have to be present to win! We will draw for the cue just prior to the finals of the main event. For more information visit www.uticabilliards.com, www.facebook.com/uticabilliards or call 315-732-3000.
If you will be in need accommodations, there are many to choose from nearby on Genesee St, just off exit 31 of I90. Or call the room for more info. 315-732-3000.
This event at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard will consist of a $1500 added Saturday and Sunday Main Event (entry Fee $120 for pro level or $70 for non pro level) and a $500 added second chance event on Sunday ($20 Entry Fee) for those non pro players eliminated from the main event on Saturday. All of our billiard parlor main events are now races to 9 on the winners side and races to 7 on the one loss side.
For those of you coming to play, please arrive on Saturday February 5 BEFORE 11:00 AM, and in proper dress please. Jeans and sneakers are permitted in our billiard parlor events. But please, No T-shirts, No tanks, No shorts or sweats. I will have a large assortment of our Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour shirts on hand for those who have been asking! Complete tour info can be found on our site www.joss9balltour.com
Please remember to spread the word to frequent your local billiard parlors and utilize the world class products of our most generous sponsors. They are the backbone of our sport and deserve our support now more than ever!!
Thanks and I hope to see you all at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard.
Bucky Souvanthong, Brickhouse Billiards Co Owner Brad Rees and Ron Casanzio
The talk on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour this season has been the six tournament winning streak put together by Jeremy Sossei. Over the October 26th – 27th weekend at Brick House Billiards in Syracuse NY, Bucky Souvanthong started building a winning streak of his own.
Souvanthong had three lopsided Saturday wins over Gary Hinkley (9-3), Eric Hamel (9-4) and Hendrik Drost (9-5). Things got tougher on Sunday morning though, as Souvanthong went to hill-hill before sending Ron Casanzio to the one loss side. Next up for Souvanthong was Jay Goyer in the hot-seat match. That match went to Souvanthong 9-6.
After wins over Tony Antone, Dave Ricci and Goyer, Ron Casanzio would be the one to come out of the one loss side to challenge Souvanthong in the finals. Looking back on Souvanthong and Casanzio’s hill-hill match earlier, it was no surprise that the rematch would be another close one. The players were tied at 7-7 when Souvanthong took the hill at 8-7 and then proceeded to make the 9-ball on the break in rack sixteen, for the 9-7 win.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Diamond Billiards Bar & Grill in Rochester, NY on November 2nd and 3rd for their next stop. Players who are interested in playing in January’s Turning Stone Classic XXXIII are urged to contact Mike Zuglan and get their entry fees in.
Brickhouse Billiards Owner Brad Rees, Jeremy Sossei and Hendrik Drost
Jeremy Sossei earned his third Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop win of the year (and second in as many stops) on April 27th – 28th at Brickhouse Billiards in North Syracuse, NY. While he would eventually get to the finals and pull off the win, it wasn’t smooth sailing like it has been for at earlier event this season.
Sossei started out the event with wins over Len Gianfrate, Tony Antone and Jesse Docalavich, but had his Saturday spoiled late by Nate Marshall, who scored a hill-hill win to send Sossei to the one loss side. Sossei bounced back from that loss in style and beat Steve Lamontagne 7-1 to close out the day.
Sunday play saw Marshall drop his first match of the day to Hendrick Drost 9-5, while Geoff Montgomery was sending Dwight Dixon to the one loss side 9-4. Drost would then go on to take the hot-seat over Montgomery 9-2.
Sossei scored wins over Bruce Carroll (7-0) and Dixon (7-5) to reach the final four on the one loss side. Sossei would not get a chance to avenge his loss to Marshall as Len Gianfrate eliminated Marshall 7-4 in 5th place. The opponent didn’t matter to Sossei though, as he then eliminated Gianfrate 7-5. The only person left standing between Sossei and the finals was Montgomery, and Sossei ended that opposition quickly with a 7-2 win.
The final match between Drost and Sossei was true double elimination, where Sossei scored a 9-4 win in the first set and then a 7-3 win in the second (and deciding) set for first place.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Aaron Greenwood lose his first match of the day, but come back with seven straight match wins (including both sets of the finals against Nick Coppola) for first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour is back in action this weekend (May 4th – 5th) at Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY.
Dave Driedel has competed on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour as far back as our records go (2000) and has a 5th place finish in 2014 as his best finish. He outdid himself by a large margin over the February 24th – 25th weekend with his first tour stop win at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester NY.
Dreidel was looking good on Saturday with three straight wins to stay on the right side of the board. He defeated Nabil Lazouzi 9-6 to get his tourney started, and then scored lopsided wins over Tony Antone and Dave Ricci (9-3 and 9-1).
Sunday play kicked off for Dreidel with a close 9-7 win over tour newcomer Joe Mayo, while Ron Casanzio was sending Spencer Auigbelle to the one loss side on the other half of the board. That left Casanzio and Dreidel to fight it out for the hot-seat, where Dreidel scored another 9-7 win.
Waiting on the one loss side for Casanzio was Bucky Souvanthong. Bucky had lost a hill-hill match to Casanzio early Saturday but then forged a six-match winning streak to meet up with Casanzio again in the semi-final match. That rematch didn’t go Souvanthong’s way though, as Casanzio scored a quick 7-1 win to earn the right to play Dreidel in the finals.
Dreidel was ready for Casanzio though and scored a 9-5 win in the first set of the finals for his first ever Joss Tour Stop win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw eleven players come back to play, with room owner Chris Braiman going undefeated with a 3-2 win over Sourith Thammavong for the hot-seat and then a 3-0 win over Thammavong in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball tour will be back in action March 3th – 4th at Snookers Billiards in Providence RI for the 9th Annual North East Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open. That event will include a $2500 added main event and a $500 added second chance event on Sunday.
Tour players are reminded that the March 17th – 18th event that was scheduled at King Smiley Billiards has been moved to Hippos House of Billiards in Utica, NY.
They say that pool is a young man’s game, and they are right for the most part. On the other hand, after a 10-year break from the game to play online poker, Connecticut’s Jorge Teixeira says he is playing the best pool of his life and he backed that claim up with a win at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop at Salt City Billiards on Jan 21st and 22nd.
Teixeira, born in Portugal but now a resident of Connecticut, was just one of the 46 players to pony up their entry fees to compete in this event, but he cruised through the winner’s bracket with Saturday wins over Jason Hall, Tony Antone, Bruce Nagle and Geoff Montgomery. Teixeira came out strong in his Sunday morning match, scoring a 9-2 win over Jose Mendez. One 9-6 win over Jeremy Sossei later, and Teixeira was sitting in the hot-seat awaiting an opponent.
On the one loss side, Sossei took on Spencer Auigbelle. Auigbell had dropped a match to Dave Grau late Saturday night but bounced back with four wins on the left side of the board on Sunday. Auigbelle would settle for third place, though after a quick 9-3 loss to Sossei.
Sossei kept his strong play going and avenged his loss to Teixeira 9-5 in the first set of the finals. The second set was a different story, though with Teixeira scoring the 9-6 for his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour win.
Fifty-four year old Teixeira credited his new table at home and his practice regimen for the win. “After I started back up, I learned how to practice better. Winning that tournament meant a lot to me only because of my age and the hard work paid off. It was the best pool day of my life.” said Teixeira. He continued “Right now I'm playing the best pool of my life because of my work ethic. I know I’m going to improve even at 54 because I believe I’m doing the right kind of practice. It's a challenge vs my self. That's the only reason I play pool.”
The second chance tournament brought back fifteen players on Sunday with Hendrick Drost taking the hot-seat with a 3-2 win over Jamie Garrett. Garrett then beat Brian Lipes 3-1 to earn another shot at Drost in the finals. Garrett would get his revenge with a 3-1 win over Drost in the first set of the finals, but it was Drost with an identical 3-1 win in the second set to earn first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Sharpshooters Billiards in Amsterdam NY on February 18th – 19th for their next stop, another $1500/$500 added event.
Day two at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour's Turning Stone Classic XXIV started with both of day one's big upset victims starting on their long paths to hopeful tournament glory.
Appleton's thoughts about forfeiting because of a pinched nerve in his neck were forgotten and he, as well as Mike Dechaine, won both of their day two matches. Appleton scoring wins over Dale Kimmett and John Babravich, while Dechaine eliminated Tony Antone and Jason Michas. Other surprisingly early residents of the one loss side, Oscar and Ernesto Dominguez, also won their day two matches and remained in the hunt on day three.
Joining these players on the one loss side were such notables as Johnny Archer, Karen Corr, John Morra, Hunter Lombardo, Shane McMinn, Danny Hewitt and Matt Krah. Archer's 9-5 loss on the winner's side was at the hands of Shaun Wilkie, and it looked like Archer would be booking an early flight home late on Friday night as he trailed Paul Rozonewski 5-0. Archer did what he has done his entire career though, and shook off the scoreline to grind his way back into the match. He won eight straight games and won the match 9-6.
Day two was not kind for Mosconi Cup hopefuls as Jeremy Sossei, Scott Frost and Skylar Woodward all dropped winners side matches. Frost clawed back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the score with Jayson Shaw, but was unable to stop Shaw as he won the next six games for the 9-3 win. Woodward lost a heartbreaking 9-8 decision to Canadian Sylvain Grenier, and Sossei lost 9-5 to Canadian Martin Daigle. Mosconi Cup frontrunners Shane Van Boening and Corey Deuel remained unbeaten on day two.
Day three will be tough for everyone, but especially the players who are on the left side of the board. They will be faced with match after match, and very little time to regroup in between these battles.
Day one is in the books at the Joss NE 9-Ball's Turning Stone Classic XXIV, and the day was bookended by two surprising upsets.
The first upset of the day took place in round one, where a Darren Appleton pinched nerve in the neck teamed up with strong play from Joss Tour regular Jason Michas to send Appleton to the one loss side in his first match. Michas won the match 9-5 and Appleton said he was contemplating pulling out of the tournament to seek medical help on the neck. Fortunately for the fans in attendance, Appleton stuck it out and has already won his first match of the day on day two.
Other action in the first round saw Robb Saez with a dominating 9-0 win over Rich Grannis and Mosconi Cup hopeful Scott Frost scoring a lopsided 9-1 win over Ernesto Dominguez. While Ernesto was being sent to the one loss side, son Oscar was being sent to join him, after a hill-hill loss to Michael Yednak.
Round two on Thursday didn't hold any major upsets, but one match of note saw local Junior Champion Jake Miosi take a brutal loss. Miosi led Ray Lee 4-0 when the wheels fell off. Nine games later, Miosi had lost the match 9-4.
The second major upset of the day occured in the final round of play, as Canadian veteran "Machine Gun" Luc Salvas shot down Mike Dechaine on the streaming table. Dechaine trailed in the match early and Salvas pulled away to get to the hill at 8-6. Salvas had a runnable table, but missed a ball and Dechaine pounced on the opportunity. Dechaine would tie the match at 8-8, but missed a 4-ball while running the final table and Salvas cleaned up the table for the 9-8 win. Dechaine will begin the long journey through the one loss side with a match against Tony Antone Friday afternoon.
Congratulations to Turning Stone Classic XXXIV winners Jayson Shaw for win # 7 ($8,000 main event), Tom Zippler ($500 second chance event) & our $1,900 Joss Cue raffle winner Tony Antone and $1,600 Joss Cue raffle winner Mac Jankov.
